Native to North America, blueberries were enjoyed by early colonists not only as a sweet part of their daily diet, but as a means to dye clothing. The berries were also used to dye baskets and to make paint. Blueberries are second only to strawberries as the most consumed berry in the United States.

Rich in free radical busting anti-oxidants; in this case optimizing your nervous system and brain health, blueberries are the perfect addition to your summer breakfast! We like to sprinkle ours over bitter greens with red onion, pecans and balsamic vinaigrette for the ultimate summer salad.

We have a couple of pints to sell you, or you can purchase your very own plant. The farm stand is open from 10-5 today, and we’d love to see you! We also have eggs available, five bucks gets you a dozen fresh eggs!

In the kitchen today, we are processing 400 pounds of these golden babies, perfectly ripe and ready for a bath…in our simmering pots! After we wash and hand separate the pit, these gorgeous stone fruits will be swimming in their own juices, along with our other (not so secret) ingredients to make our infamous Apricot jam. If you’ve ever appreciated the smell of an apricot, multiply that by thousands and you’ll have what I am smelling right now! If the picture is really working for you, click it! You’ll be taken to our website where you can order a few jars, because one just isn’t enough!

Our busy bees are buzzing about the farm, steadfast in their quest for pollen to make their life sustaining honey! For every bee you see, you can account for 1/12th of a teaspoon of honey in your jar! That’s it! The bees work so hard, and provide so much in such a short time.

There are many crops we count on bees to help us grow, and here are some of them:

Apples

Onions

Avocados

Carrots

Mangos

Lemons

Limes

Honeydew

Cantaloupe

Zucchini

Summer squash

Eggplant

Cucumbers

Celery

Green onions

Cauliflower

Leeks

Bok choy

Kale

Broccoli

Broccoli rabe

Mustard greens

If our bees go away, so do all of these crops! Not to mention the alfalfa that cows eat! Without bees, farmers wouldn’t be able to provide food for their cows, and then beef would become an insanely expensive delicacy akin to the finest truffle or caviar! So save the bees! Plant bee friendly flowers, like Asters, Sunflowers, Mint, Thyme and Poppies! By providing bees with food, you’re ensuring they have enough energy to pollinate the crops nearest their hive. A colony of bees can also use up to forty four pounds of honey during the winter months to sustain life! Bees are in danger now, because of the wide spread use of pesticides and other bee killing poisons.

Today, and for the past few months we’ve been experimenting with this amazing sugar, vinegar and fruit mixture called a shrub!

We have raspberry, strawberry and blackberry ready for purchase, and they are so delightful! All the ladies here on the farm are enjoying them quite thoroughly! Jess likes hers mixed with Sprite, and Sheri is enjoying hers over a salad mixed with a bit of olive oil! Since vinegar is such a fantastic super food, aiding in stomach health and digestion we suggest having a little of our shrub everyday!

Each six ounce bottle is hand crafted here, and we are selling them for eight dollars! It’s quite the deal!

You’ve been invited to a holiday party, where the hosts are throwing a gorgeous party. You’ve minded your Ps and Qs, by offering to bring a dish. Your gracious host has declined, but Etiquetteer would severely frown on you for showing up with nothing. Your hosts also happen to be wine aficionados so the dusty bottle of whatever no big deal label you have isn’t going to cut it.

You type in to your search bar, “Hostess Gifts” and nothing is really doing it for you. Flowers aren’t personal, and chocolates during the holidays?! No way.

You see we have many different offerings in the way of boutique jam, mustard, oils, and vinegars. You’re mind starts to wander…Yum, jam. And then you realize, we have gift baskets!

Our jam is so uniquely delicious, your hosts will be delighted to think of you whenever they spread our thick and rich jam across their morning breakfast bread. We can customize your basket, or you may choose one of our premade gifts. Each basket is hand packed and available for pick up or shipping.

In order to save you from the mundane and time consuming task of searching for your perfect holiday hostess gifts, order a few to have on hand along with an extra because it would be far too sad to give away all the delectable jam we lovingly make from scratch. A frequent customer of ours keeps several jars of our jam on hand as last minute thank you gifts for those who may have brought a gift without prior warning! She says our jams make the perfect spontaneous gift!

Although Winter has teased its arrival with icy mornings and slippers on my feet evenings I must consider what bounty I would like to harvest in Spring and Summer on Hurley Farms.
Every seed is planted and kept as toasty as possible in our greenhouse.
We are starting to plan our berry plants, and would love to start a few for you too! If you call or visit, we can help you plan your summer garden and get your plants started for you. We will plant raspberries, blackberries and blueberries.
You can reserve now for Winter/Spring planting and have a bountiful crop of healthy local berries by late Summer/Fall.

Now we’re about to blow your mind with a couple awesome feel good facts about our farming practices, specifically regarding our chickens.

1. We compost! It is a farming necessity!

2. We feed our chickens the fantastic fruit leftovers from the trees we grow on property, and any scraps from our commercial/agricultural kitchen such as strawberry tops, peach peels and pumpkin trimmings!

3. We also use the chicken manure we clean out of their hen house in our compost bin and fields, ensuring rich soil!

To us, having the land is a great gift but using the land responsibly is about ingenuity, and we’ve got tons of it here!